Stuck in a Mafia Romance

NO ONE’S POV

After the chaotic day, Viella and Lily finally returned to the mansion.

Viella went straight to her bedroom to change and freshen up. Before stepping inside, she turned back and gave Lily a mischievous wink.

"Ahem, ahem! Someone really needs to learn a thing or two about human emotions, by the way!"

Before Lily could even raise her eyes to glare at her, Viella giggled and quickly ran into her room, shutting the door behind her.

Lily stood alone in the quiet hallway. She raised her left arm and looked down at her wristwatch. Five more hours left. She hummed softly under her breath. It was time for her to get to work.

Two hours later, the entire mansion had fallen completely silent. Shadows stretched across the dark corridors as everyone went to sleep. Moving like a ghost, Lily slipped out of the estate unnoticed.

When she reached the head office building, she acted fast. Using her assassin training, she quietly bypassed the main security systems and turned off the camera feeds one by one. Satisfied, she slipped through the quiet hallways until she reached Lucian’s private office.

She picked the lock in seconds and pushed the wooden door open.

The room was bathed in moonlight. Lily walked straight toward his desk, searching through the drawers for the confidential documents Elias had demanded. Within moments, her fingers brushed against the thick folder of private business files.

She picked them up, but just as she was about to pull them out, her hand stopped.

Sitting on the chair right next to the desk was Lucian’s dark coat- the exact same coat he had draped over her shoulders earlier today when she was cold and wet. It still held a faint trace of his scent.

Lily’s eyes drifted back and forth between the coat and the papers in her hands. Her fingers began to tremble slightly.

If she leaked these files, Lucian’s career, family name, and entire future would be ruined. The thought sent a painful sting through her chest. For the first time in her life, the cold, emotionless assassin hesitated.

Meanwhile, out on the main road, Lucian was driving his car back home through the night.

He glanced into the backseat, looking for his suit jacket. Suddenly, he remembered where he had left it- he had forgotten it on the chair in his office after changing out of his clothes.

"Tsk, I need those keys in the coat pocket for tomorrow morning," he muttered to himself. He swung the steering wheel around at the next intersection and drove straight back toward the corporate building.

He parked his car in the underground garage, took the private elevator up to the top floor, and walked down the silent hallway toward his room.

Inside the dark office, Lily’s ears twitched as she caught the sound of quiet footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Click.

The sound of the door handle turning echoed through the silent room. Lily’s entire body froze. Her heart beating as the door slowly swung open, letting the bright light from the hallway spill across the dark floor.

Lucian stepped into the doorway, stopping dead in his tracks as his eyes landed on his desk. Noticing the complete darkness inside, he paused at the threshold and stared into the room for a quiet moment, his eyes scanning the corners.

Meanwhile, Lily was standing completely frozen on the narrow stone ledge just outside the high office window. The night wind whipped violently around her frame, blowing her hair across her face. It was an impossibly thin surface- one single wrong move, one slipping foot, and she would plunge straight down from the tenth floor to the concrete below. She held her breath, pressing her back flat against the cold exterior wall as the drop below threatened to pull her under.

Step... step... step.

Lucian walked slowly into the dark office. His footsteps echoed off the wooden floorboards, heading straight toward the large desk.

He reached out, grabbed his coat off the chair, and paused. For a briefsecond, he glanced toward the moonlit window, staring right at the glass where she was hiding just inches away on the other side. Lily’s chest tightened so hard she couldn’t even draw air into her lungs. But after a quiet sigh, Lucian turned on his shoe and walked straight back out, locking the office door behind him.

Hearing the lock click shut and his footsteps fade down the hall, Lily finally let out a long breath. Her muscles trembled from the tension as she carefully unlatched the window, slipped back inside, and dropped onto the carpeted floor.

She pulled up her sleeve to check her watch. Only forty minutes left.

Lily stood alone in the dark room, completely lost in her thoughts. Her hands hovered over the open drawer containing Lucian’s documents. Her heart felt impossibly heavy, caught in an agonizing struggle between her duty and the strange feelings that had taken root in her chest today. She simply wasn’t sure what to do anymore.

Buzz.

Her phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and tapped the screen, only for her blood to instantly turn to ice.

It was a photo. On the screen was Viella, sleeping peacefully in her bed back at the estate and standing right beside her pillow in the shadow was an armed assassin, holding a cold blade inches from her neck.

Below the picture, a single text message appeared:

[The clock is ticking.]

The message was sent by Elias.

Lily’s dark eyes glinted with a dangerous light as her hesitation melted away, replaced by pure, cold emotions. She gripped the confidential files tightly, stuffed them into her coat, and lowered her phone.

She walked straight out into the dark hallway after unlocking the door in second try. She had to do it.

It was now or never.

The moment Lucian reached his car in the underground garage, his tired expression completely faded, replaced by a dark edge. He stepped inside, slammed the door, and tapped his wireless earpod.

"Check the security feeds for my office," Lucian commanded into the mic, his voice dropping an octave. "Right now."

As the voice on the other end confirmed the breach, Lucian glanced up through the windshield, looking straight at the dark window on the tenth floor. Without another word, he threw the car into gear, hit the gas, and sped out into the night.

Meanwhile, deep inside Dante’s study.

The desk was covered in tactical maps and surveillance reports. His top operative walked in silently, bowing his head.

"Boss, our trackers just pinged. Miss Lily is currently on her way to meet Mr. Elias at the old docks. What are your next orders?"

Dante finally looked up from his papers, his dark eyes glowing with a quiet intensity. "Ready everything. We are leaving right now."

"Yes, Boss!" the operative replied, turning to leave.

Dante stood up from his chair, pulling his coat over his shoulders. He knew exactly what Elias was trying to do- using his own long-lost sister as a disposable pawn to steal secrets, destroy the estate, and tear them all apart from the inside. But Dante wasn’t about to let that bastard win.

Just as Dante reached for his sidearm, another guard rushed into the study. "Boss! It seems Lord Lucian has just found out about the breach in his office. He’s heading toward Elias’s location right now."

Dante’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at the news, but his expression quickly hardened back into stone. He gave a single, firm nod.

It didn’t matter what Lucian thought right now, nor did it matter if Lucian misunderstood her actions. Tonight, none of that mattered. It was finally time for Dante to crush Elias once and for all and bring his little sister home.

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Lily reached the abandoned docks, the cold sea air thick with the smell of iron. Elias stood under the flickering light of a rusted streetlamp, a sickening smirk stretched across his face.

She walked forward, her footsteps heavy, and thrust the confidential folder into his chest. Elias snatched the papers, flipping through the pages under the dim light. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

"Wise choice," he muttered, tossing the folder onto a nearby crate.

"Now let My Lady go," Lily demanded, her voice tight, her hands trembling inside her pockets. "You got what you wanted. Call off your operative."

"Fine," Elias sighed smoothly, pulling out his phone. He dialed a number, placed it to his ear, and waited a single beat.

"Finish her," Elias said into the receiver.

Lily’s eyes widened in absolute horror. "What did you say?!"

Before she could sprint forward to tear the phone from his hands, two burly men stepped out from the shadows behind her. One grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back, while the other brought a heavy boot straight into her stomach.

The blunt force drove the air completely out of her lungs. Lily collapsed forward, gagging as a spray of hot blood splashed onto the cold floor.

Elias threw his head back and laughed- a rasping sound that echoed across the empty docks. "What did you think, Lily? That I was actually helping you? That we were partners?" He stepped closer, driving his shoe directly onto her hand, grinding her knuckles into the glass-littered ground until she heard the bones groan.

"You’re nothing but a pathetic little piece of dirt," Elias spat, grabbing her by her hair and brutally yanking her head up. "You ruined my life! You destroyed my entire network! And you honestly believed I was going to spare you and your precious little mistress?"

Lily gasped for breath, blood trickling down her chin, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of a scream.

Elias slammed his fist across her jaw, throwing her to the ground, before planting a heavy kick straight into her ribs. The crack of bone resonated sharply in the quiet night. He grabbed her by her collar, dragging her battered body across the floor, and forced her onto her knees in front of him.

Lily stayed silent, letting her long dark hair fall forward to cover her face as her head hung low.

"Aw... what’s wrong?" Elias mocked, leaning down until his breath brushed her ear. "Can’t look me in the eye anymore? Where’s that terrifying assassin everyone in the underworld was so afraid of?"

When she didn’t answer, he let out one last dismissive scoff, wiping her blood off his cheek with the back of his hand. He turned and began walking toward his idling car.

"Finish her off," Elias ordered casually over his shoulder to the two men. "Make it slow."

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TO BE CONTINUED